Shop Candler NC

Your shop is you place to hang your tools and work on great projects and it needs to be in tip top shape. Read some informative articles here in the shop section and make sure you have everything you need to keep up your workshop.

Except for the thin-rip jig, these jigs rely on an initial cut to define a zero-clearance edge. Because blade kerfs vary slightly, it’s important to select and use the same blade each time you use the jig. So that you won’t forget, note the blade used on the face of each jig.

Composite wood has a few significant drawbacks: it’s heavy, easily damaged and not very stiff. In addition, it doesn’t hold screws as well as solid wood, swells when it gets wet and creates clouds of obnoxious sawdust. Particleboard is fine for utilitarian work, but MDF is preferred for furniture projects.

Hang your long, heavy clamps on this rack designed for strength. Thebraces are notched into the bracket arms in a simple version of atimber-frame joint. Mill 2x4 dimensional lumber straight and square tomake these brackets. The braces form a 45-degree triangle with the twoarms. Miter the ends of the braces first.

Attach 2x4 legs to elevate the box above the kettle. One end should be higher to ensure that condensation flows to the drain holes. To accommodate the Lee Valley kettle, I propped one end of the box on a block 9 in. high and the other end on a block 8-1/2 in. high. Then I attached the legs.

Freud’s 15-amp FT3000VCE plunge router, $290, is a back-saving machine that allows you to make all your adjustments from above the table, from bit changes to height adjustments. Yes, other routers offer above-the-table adjustments, but most are smaller, 12-amp machines.

Except for the thin-rip jig, these jigs rely on an initial cut to define a zero-clearance edge. Because blade kerfs vary slightly, it’s important to select and use the same blade each time you use the jig. So that you won’t forget, note the blade used on the face of each jig.

This swing-out drill bit rack means no more peering into a darkcabinet or trying to reach over a forest of sharp bits to get the oneway in back. Just swing out the block and all your drill accessoriesare right where you can easily and safely reach them.

Oddball clamps won't become lost if you keep them together in a utility tub, which costs about $3 at a discount store. Tubs are a great way to store and transport spring clamps, C-clamps and small hand screws. Lidded tubs can even be stacked.

Cut the clamp block to final length. Save the long offcut for later use. Predrill and install four screws to strengthen the dovetail. Without the screws, the fence could break if you overtighten the clamp.

Compared with many other quick-acting clamps, the Versa Clamp exerts quite a bit more pressure but is more expensive and doesn’t act as a spreader. In practice, I found the Versa Clamp very handy. It has enough grab to act like a vise on a bench and, when used like a conventional clamp, it can pull unwieldy joints closed.

How do you make a velvety smooth bowl with evenly thick walls and crisp details? Well, it’s not done by sanding the heck out of it. The secret is to use a bowl gouge that is properly shaped and very sharp.

. The Metabo STE105 Plus saw has a 6-amp motor. An Allen wrench is required for changing the foot angle. Blade changes are tool-free, but you must pull the old blade out of the motor shaft. The dust hose hookup is included. The saw is available with a top handle or barrel grip.

An important feature of this cabinet is that the drawers haveextra-long 3/4-extension slides to provide full-extension (see Sources,below). I sized my cabinet to fit my Delta 17-in. drill press, model17-900 and made it all from birch plywood.

A unique airflow adjustment knob fine-tunes the airflow into the bag plenum. A twist of the knob controls a baffle that assures both collector bags receive equal amounts of wood chips and fill at the same time. The 3hp Dust Force combines a large 13-in. impeller with an 8-in. diameter inlet to deliver up to 2500 cfm of airflow.

A light bulb went on in my head and this wooden version now graces my shop. It’s just over 1 ft. wide when closed and expands to just under 7 ft. Wing nuts make it easy to lock in any position. I’ve used my rack to hold everything from 12-in.-long shelves to 12-ft.-long baseboard moldings.

There was no room in my basement shop to cut full sheets of plywood. I always had to have the home center guy cut it down to size with his panel saw. What a hassle. I wanted my own panel saw, but I knew there was simply no room in my shop or budget.

For those of you with a contractor’s saw on a mobile base, we’ve designed the kind of table you’d wish the saw had to begin with. It goes wherever the saw goes. Folded up, it doubles as a sturdy assembly table. Folded down, you still get an additional foot of support for cutting short stuff.

Tired of working on a sheet of plywood thrown over a pair of sawhorses? Had it with rolling benches that wiggle and wobble? Hate running around your shop whenever you need a tool? Boy, do we have the bench for you. Our dream bench starts with traditional workbench features like a thick top, a sturdy base, bench dogs and a pair of vises.

You can set it up in only a minute and be ready for routing, sanding, planing—you name it. When you’re done, fold up the table into a super-compact unit only five-inches thick and stow it away. Here today, tucked away tomorrow.

This hook-and-slat system is simplicity itself. Take a strip of 3/4-in. plywood and offset another strip of 1/4-in. plywood to create a hook and its partner, the wall slat (Photo 1). You must shave a bit off the inside edge of the slat (Photo 2) so the hook can slip in and out with ease.

Crosscut sleds have been around for a long time, but few are ideal. Many are heavy and hard to store. Most develop an extra-wide saw cut in the fence and allow the blade to throw sawdust in your face. The following design solves all these problems.

Ipe can be used for indoor or outdoor furniture. It's so heavy thatthis deck chair will never blow over in the wind! Ipe is useful aroundthe shop, too, because it's so hard and strong. An ipe carver's malletlasts a lifetime. Ipe drawer runners never wear out. Best of all, anipe workbench is downright awesome.

Here's the scene: You're building an entertainment center and thesides are 7-ft. high and almost 3-ft. deep (big enough for thatbig-screen TV you've always wanted). But the sides have to be dadoedfor shelves. Forget trying to use a dado head on the tablesaw, unlessyou happen to have 8-ft. rails on your saw!

These machines are manufactured in Taiwan, and according to Laguna, use the same high standards as their European-built machines. Laguna's Platinum Series combination jointer/planers are available in two sizes, 12-in. or 10-in. In addition to saving space, these machines offer a couple of other big advantages.

Composite wood has a few significant drawbacks: it’s heavy, easily damaged and not very stiff. In addition, it doesn’t hold screws as well as solid wood, swells when it gets wet and creates clouds of obnoxious sawdust. Particleboard is fine for utilitarian work, but MDF is preferred for furniture projects.

I built two tables, which offer a lot of flexibility. I can butt them right up to the back of my contractor’s saw because the folding wings span the saw’s motor. When I rip a long board, I can put one table in front of the saw and one behind. When I crosscut a big piece of plywood, I can roll one of the tables to the left side of the saw.

To keep the doors closed I used a sliding bolt, but a screw eye and hook is equally simple and effective.I attached the cabinet to a dolly with four conduit straps. All the materials, including the dolly, were purchased at a home center for about $40.

These modular shop cabinets function in much the same way. Designed for ample storage, they also form a stunning piece of cabinetry. Make no mistake, though; these cabinets are firmly rooted in modern cabinet making techniques.

Franklin International has built the better mousetrap and introduced Titebond III. It has a longer open working time and lower working temperature. The open working time is 10 minutes as compared to the 5 minutes of Titebond II. Titebond III can also be used at temperatures down to 47 degrees while Titebond II is only good down to 55 degrees.

Every article I read on plumbing air lines advised using either iron or copper. Because my basement shop holds a lot of obstructions, using iron or copper would result in a whole lot of threading or soldering of short little pieces. Besides, copper and iron fittings are costly.

This project requires some specialized hardware unfamiliar to mostwoodworkers, like bronze bearings and steel rod. We recommend you buyyour lifter parts from the mail order sources we used (see Sourcesbelow).

Attach 2x4 legs to elevate the box above the kettle. One end should be higher to ensure that condensation flows to the drain holes. To accommodate the Lee Valley kettle, I propped one end of the box on a block 9 in. high and the other end on a block 8-1/2 in. high. Then I attached the legs.

The teachers keep the knives until there is a safe time for the students to carve with instruction and careful supervision. It is a primal experience to sit at a campfire as boys and girls with freshly-sharpened sticks heat-harden their points,much as our distant ancestorsmight have hardened their spears.

While visiting an antique shop, I discovered a way to store all that indispensible small stuff that used to clutter my workshop. On display was a rotating bolt cabinet from an old-fashioned hardware store. When I got home, I design-ed this carousel that rotates on inverted swivel casters. It’s easy to build, because there’s no complicated joinery.

Most shop vacuums are big and powerful, like SUVs. These vacuums have tons of suction power for cleaning the mess on your floor, but their standard hoses and fittings are way too big to use with portable power tools.

There’s not enough room in my garage shop for a tablesaw with a 52-in.-capacity rip fence. But no worries—I don’t need one! To make wide cuts, I simply install a shop-made extension that bridges my saw to the wall—and doubles its 30-in. rip capacity!

Adjustable shelves on the side hold the rip fence, extra miter gauge and whatever else you can pile on them. The overall design is flexible and open-ended, so you can add extra holders and pegs wherever you need them. I made this cabinet to fit my tablesaw, but it can easily be modified to fit most other brands.

Festool has introduced a truly new joinery machine called the Domino. It looks and handles like a biscuit joiner, but the Domino uses an oscillating cutter to make oval-shaped mortises. A Domino tenon fits precisely into these mortises to join parts together.

You need to sharpen your chisel once in a while and it is not that difficult to do. The following article has some tips to offer to help you have your chisel sharpened. So read on to get more details below.

Hang your long, heavy clamps on this rack designed for strength. Thebraces are notched into the bracket arms in a simple version of atimber-frame joint. Mill 2x4 dimensional lumber straight and square tomake these brackets. The braces form a 45-degree triangle with the twoarms. Miter the ends of the braces first.

Melamine is the professional cabinetmaker's best friend. Build acabinet with it and you have a complete, durable interior that requiresno sanding (yes!) and no finishing (oh, yeah!). Pros often build wholekitchens out of melamine and then dress the boxes with plywood endpanels and solid-wood fronts.

To trim off a whisker, try this: With the miter saw off, drop the blade down and push the mitered end of the edging up against the teeth with enough pressure to ever so slightly deflect the blade. With a tight hold on the edging, raise the blade back up.

Years of dust and the inherent friction between cast-iron parts made adjustments a real drag. ProGold's PG2000, $7 for 12 oz., rescued me and my saw, making adjustments silky smooth again. PG2000 loosens parts that are sticking together and leaves behind a coating that takes the drag out of making machine adjustments.